


Midnight Adventures

by orphan_account



Category: Cinderella 2015
Genre: Adventures, F/M, Fairy Godmother intervention, Night, fae, faerie - Freeform, garden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4633596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kit and Ella's children, inspired by a book and a full moon, decide to search the gardens at night for the faerie folk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Adventures

It was a little game, a mystical journey into the alien world of starlight, that summoned a pair of siblings away from their warm beds and into the cold night air. Fae came out at night, and danced in fairy circles in the woods until dawn, little lights in the fields as they went abut their business. It was the girls idea, for future reference, though her elder brother had been very obliging and enthusiastic, and as an enlightened studier of the elegantly bound manuscripts that detailed the lives of the fae and their sects, she was confident in her adventure. Perhaps it was her self assured wisdom, for she could not have known that the very things she sought had watched over her all her life. For her brother, curiosity was enough motivation. 

The garden was partially lit by torches and the like, but mostly by the moon, and the fact that it was a full moon bothered the princess, for she was a princess, not. Monsters may come out at a full moon, but so do sprites and fae, after all. The boy had doubts, but he felt unmanned by his sisters display of fearlessness and matched it with all the bravado a nine year old could hold with dignity. He would not run, despite the rustling of leaves and the winds whispers.   
_

"Mama! Papa!" A hushed tone awoke Ella and Kit, and as his parents stirred, Marcus flung himself onto the bed, eyes watering in panic. "Ae and Critter are gone!"   
_

Aenor had toyed with the idea of trying to sneak through the palace gates (she was convinced she might succeed, as well, being so small), but something had distracted her as she and Critter wandered about the gardens. There were sparkles of white, and faintly blue, light that floated in front of her, inviting her to follow them. They were remnants of magic, she was certain of it, and her brother would not disagree as he desperately followed her, growing a little cold. 

Cold always made the little boy think of ghosts, maybe because there were so many gruesome tales surrounding the place and it's previous inhabitants. Beheaded grand dukes, princes beaten to death, princesses burnt to death, poisoned kings and stabbed queens were said to haunt the grounds, wailing their grief. They didn't, obviously, as the palace was hardly more than two centuries old and the majority of theses tales had come to pass in the original seat of royalty, a little to the west, but the impressionable prince had no way of knowing that. The current palace had been protected by the very creatures the siblings were searching for, following an incident with a lace bodice, a comb and an apple.   
_

Their beds were still warm, but they were also empty and the two parents tried not to let their worry show. Marcus was still there, at least, and Lily was fast asleep in her cot, nothing terrible could have happened, surely? For all they knew, the pair had left on their own accord, though neither of them could come up with a good reason as to why. Further confirmation that they intended to leave was the absence of Critter's toy elephant, despite the boy making a point of needing it anymore, and Aenor's beloved teddy bear.   
_

"Ae, please, let's go back." Critter practically begged his sister, stepping around another perfectly manicured hedge. Hedge animals had been carefully designed by the gardeners, and while he had been fascinated by them in the daylight, they only caused Critter to fear the misshapen shadows they made in the faint light. 

"We're meant to follow the light." The princess whispered, eyes wide in fascination of the glowing embers of mystery that she grabbed at. They always dissolved when her fingertips were just about to brush them. You can't catch light, anyway.   
_

Ella was the first to see them, looking out through the window, two small figures heralded by fluttering lights, silvery glints that she had seen before, though it seemed like a whole life time since, and her heart stopped, relief overcoming her restrained worry. Kit was not so easily set at ease. 

Naturally, the two had expected to steal out of bed, find the faerie folk, maybe ask a few questions about magic and whether or not humans can wield it, then return to bed quietly and their absence would go unnoticed. They were wrong, and neither of them forgot it was because of Marcus that they found their parents in the nursery. The magic (for it was magic, they were convinced of it) had lead them strait to Aenor's room, where Ella and Kit waited, with a terrified Marcus sitting on her bed. On their appearance, the younger boy had even more to worry about, the pair shooting them glares just as Kit opened his mouth to ask him to leave. He was very obedient in that regard, scuttling away and Ella followed him, exchanging a look with her husband that spoke volumes. 

Kit didn't yell. Not at his children, not at his wife, not at the servants, not at anyone. Some people just thought he was cool and collected, and that made them fear his anger even more, but it was really just because Kit genuinely didn't find the need to raise his voice. When he did, it was so rare and in a serious, panic filled situation, that very few people even remembered. He didn't like raising his voice, anyway. He remembered his grandfather, though he had been only four or so when he suffered the heart attack everyone knew he was heading for, going through fits of rage and how absolutely terrified he was of the man. His father, in turn, had been particularly mild mannered. 

His children also, though he had a suspicion that Marcus would break the pattern, were generally well behaved. Critter hardly did anything out of line, and while Aenor could be headstrong, she very rarely ended up doing something that was considerably offensive or dangerous. Now, however, they had both put their lives in danger and had their parents worried sick. Critter was the heir to the throne, anyone with the slightest of grudges (and after the war, there were a lot more people with a lot more than slight grudges) could exact some retribution on him with the assurance that his loss would be grievous. To Kit and Ella, the pain of losing a daughter or a son would have been unbearable, but the loss of the heir would send the entire land into mourning. The thought of living without either of them was just inconceivable. 

"I hope you understand why I'm angry." He deadpanned, and he was angry. Very angry. They had been foolish and stupid and all together oblivious to any consequences. His eyes searched his children's faces, and he sighed at what he saw. "Christopher, would you care to enlighten your sister as to why I am angry?" He suggested, and the Crown Prince knew he was in serious trouble. Christopher was reserved for formal occasions and terrifying lectures. He took in a deep breath, steadying the emotions, and from the constriction in his throat understood his voice would waver as he addressed Aenor, but she saved him the bother of an explanation. 

"Papa we didn't even leave the garden!" The princess objected, outraged at her fathers (what she believed to be) uncalled for reaction. 

"But you intended to." He pointed out, a guess but an educated one, and Aenor looked to her feet for all of three seconds, and then she was on the offensive yet again. 

"We can go there in the day, why not at night?!" Other men would never let their daughters speak to them that way, most wouldn't let even their sons, but Kit was not like other men, he had enough patience to explain to her exactly why she was wrong, aware that Aenor would never settle for less.

"Nighttime is dangerous." Kit told her in an authoritative tone. "There aren't any servants there, your mother isn't there and the guards can't see you. It's nearly winter, and it's rained every day for a week. If you had been caught in the rain you could have fallen ill!" Sickness was nothing light, not in the town. Out in the country it was not quite such a dangerous thing, but it could still go from nothing to mortal in a day. 

"We were-"

"Being irresponsible and irrational." Kit had not chosen the words with care, but as they resounded in his ears he knew them to be perfect. His eldest was keenly aware of responsibility, and duty. He could tell by the look on Critters face that he was mortified with the revelation he had done something that was deemed 'irresponsible'. Meanwhile, the last word hit home for Aenor, and Kit knew it. She loathed the mere implication that anything she did was not completely founded on reason and logic, to be called irrational was, in her mind, as severe an insult as saying she was no better than Marcus. 

"Both of you are to stay in the nursery, seeing as you've spent such an excessive amount of time in the garden." It wasn't such a punishment, in his opinion. The nursery was a set of rooms off the hall outside of the King and Queens separate apartments, made up of the playroom (which the entry door opened to), and a set of five bedrooms (two doors on the left, two doors on the right, and one door, leading to one large room, straight ahead). The amount of rooms had befuddled a younger Kit, being an only child, but later understood that it was intentionally an extravagant number, to subtly indicate to the monarchs that they needed more children to fill the rooms. By the time Ella and Kit had enough children, however, both Critter and Aenor had long vacated the apartments. 

"That's not fair!" Aenor cried, before Critter could elbow her in the ribs as a warning. 

"Putting your mother and me through two hours of worrying wasn't fair!" Kit responded, and Aenor conceded. "What even possessed you to go galavanting outside at this hour?" He directed the question at his daughter, for good reason. She was the leader when it came to adventures and expeditions. Her eyes, for just a moment, flickered to the corner of the room and Kit followed them. 

The candle was not as strong as it could have been, but it showed enough of the shadowy corner for him to make out what was there, he would have know what it was anyway, it was his daughters room, after all. A bookcase sat there, a perfectly organised row of porcelain dolls adorning the top shelf. What caught his eyes, however, was the misplaced book that accompanied the dolls. Even at such a young age, Aenor was meticulous in her organisation. A book would not be left so carelessly unless she had been reading it very, very recently. 

"The faerie book?" He challenged, catching her ashamed eyes. "I took your candle!" He distinctly remembered removing her bedside light, knowing she would use it to read (the reason why she wanted a night light for so long). 

"I read it by the window." She admitted, and Kit turned his attention to the opened drapes that had escaped his notice. "And I saw it was a full moon so I woke up Critter." Her father took in a deep breath, his wife appearing in the doorway just in time to help him keep his temper in check. 

"I think it's time for bed." Ella observed, checking the clock on the mantle (it was an almost religious rule in the palace, setting clocks above the fireplace, and she had yet to discover why). She knew her husband didn't want to lose his temper, and that he was tired and frustrated and still on edge due to all the worrying. Critter looked to his father, who nodded, before slowly moving to hug his mother and wandering off to bed. Ella was equally distressed, but as Kit had addressed the issue her son must have assumed she wasn't, otherwise he probably wouldn't have embraced her. It wasn't that she didn't want him to hug her, but she could see Kit's slightly jealous, longing glance at his sons action, and they both knew neither Critter or Aenor were going to offer any affection to him for a while.

"I'm going to go say good night to Critter." Aenor told them, following her sibling and her parents knew she was going to say more than just good night. The princess was still irritated by the accusation of being irrational, and needed to vent her frustrations. 

"We also could have run into goblins or trolls." Someone said a minute into the quiet discussion outside, and both parents smiled. "Papa's right, we didn't even consider that risk!" 

"I think our children are a little too invested in the stories we tell them." Kit murmured, as he wrapped his arms around Ella, grateful someone at least wasn't mad at him. 

"I think we're very invested in our little story." She murmured, nuzzling into his shoulder as soft voices carried to them from the playroom. 

"You're a changeling!" 

"No, you're a changeling!"

**Author's Note:**

> Did you guys notice what I did with the royals ghosts thing? 'Cause GOT? No, okay... :)


End file.
